Testing device



E. G. THOMAS TESTING DEVICE Jan. 2, 1934.

2 sheets-sheet 1 Filed Feb. 17 1930 A TTORNE Y Jan. 2, E G. H MAS TESTING DEVICE Filed Feb. 17, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 fan 0rd 5: Tomas N VE N TOR m AM A TTORNE Y Patented Jan. 2, l 5534- I 1 TESTING DEVIGE Edward G. Thomas, Toiedo, Ohio, assignor to Toledo Scale Manufacturing Company, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of New Jersey Application February 17, 1930, Serial No. 428,932, and in Canada March 20, 1930 14 Claims. (Cl. 265-44) This invention relates to testing devices and in Figure III is an end elevational View. particular to devices adapted to test sand or the Figure IV is a fragmentary section substantially like to determine the amount of moisture present. along the line IV--IV of Figure I. It is very important in concrete work that the Figure V is an enlarged section along the line cement, coarse aggregate, sand and water in the V--V of Figure I showing the bearing loop 39 concrete mixture do not vary an appreciable bracket. amount from a standard which has been estab- Figure VI is a fragmentary side elevational lished by experiments, for example, text books on view taken substantially along the line VI--VI concrete practice list nearly a dozen faults which of Figure I. arise through an excess of water. The most seri- Figure VII is a fragmentary View of the posi- 55 ous of these are probably that the strength of tion adjusting means.

concrete is reduced; that the excess water occu- Referring to the drawings in detail; the scale pies space in the concrete and later causes voids to which I have shov my invention attached is after drying out and also that the risk in freezing the well known Toledo fan scale and I will dein cold Weather is greatly increased. scribe only in so far as is necessary to ade- 70 Sand and concrete aggregates under ordinary quately describe my invention. Mounted upon conditions always contain some moisture. It will one end of the base 1 is a base horn 2. This base be readily seen that sand which has been stored horn is provided with suitable bearings in which in a builders supply yard shortly after a rain the fulcrum pivots 3 and 4 of a load supporting 29 will contain a far greater amount of moisture lever 5 are mounted. Pivots 6 and 7 which also 75 than after having been lying in a dry atmosphere are secured to the lever 5 and extend laterally for some timeand the actual amount of sand in therefrom, support a load supporting spider 8 a weighed quantity is less than the Weight indiupon which the load receiver or load scoop 9 is cated by the scales as the moisture present is remounted. The opposite end of the lever ex- 5 sponsible for part of the weight. The weight of tends into a housing 19 and is connected by 0 water present in sand must be deducted to estabmeans of a link 11 to a load counterbalancing lish the actual weight of the sand. The amount pendulum 12 which pivotally supported within of the water present in the sand should also be the housing. A hand 13, secured to the pendeducted from the quantity which is later added uhun 12, co-cperates with a chart 14 fixed in when the concrete is mixed. the pper portion of the housing 10 to indicate, 5

j My invention, therefore, has for its principal at din'erent times, the amount of the sample and object means for determining the amount of the amount of moisture in the sand. moisture in sands or similar material so that the The ever 5 has laterally extending arms 15 .ctual amount of such material may be deterand 1.6 to which a horizontally positioned frame mined. 17 is fastened. This frame 17 is provided with 90 Another important object is the provision of two upwardly extending portions 18 and 19 means wherewith an unknown sample may be which are provided with apertures in which a compared to a standard. threaded shaft 20 is turnably positioned. One

A. still further object is the provision of means half of the threads on the shaft 20 are right- 4 wherewith the amount of standard sample can' handed and the other half are left-handed. The es be definitely and accurately determined. shaft 20 is threaded through apertures in slid- A still further object is the provision of means ably mounted brackets 23 and 24 so that when for indicating the percentage of moisture present the shaft 20 is turned by the knurled knob 25, in the sample. secured to a projectin end equal movements These and other objects and advantages will be are imparted to the brackets 23 and 24. but in 100 apparent from the following description wherein opposite directions. Depending from pivots 21 reference is had to the accompanying drawings and 22 in the brackets 23 and 24 are bearing and wherein similar reference numerals designate loops 2d and 27 which support depending hooked similar parts throughout the several views. members 28 and 29 from which the sample In the drawings:--- buckets 3 and are suspended. These buckets 105 Figure I is a front elevational view, a portion with their attached parts are identical both as being broken away, of the device embodying my to weight and material, so that when similarly invention. immersed, their loss of weight will be exactly the Figure II is a plan view thereof, a part being same. For a reason which will be explained broken away. later, it is necessary that the threaded shaft 20 ii be accurately located. An adjustment has therefore been provided of which an enlarged fragmentary view is shown in Figure VII. The end of the shaft 20 is turned down to a slightly smaller diameter to provide a shoulder. A washer 33 is secured in position against the shoulder by the pin 34. The projection 18 is provided with a threaded aperture in which a threaded bushing 35 is located. The turned down portion of the shaft 20 extends through this threaded bushing and is prevented from displacement by another washer 36 which is secured to it by a pin 3'7. It will now be seen that the shaft 20 depends on this construction for its position. When the threaded bushing 35 is turned by introducing a pin or a nail or a similar object in the holes 38, the position of this bushing will be changed laterally. The shaft 20 being free to turn, but prevented from lateral movement in relation to the bushing 35 by the washers 33 and 36, will correspondingly change its position in relation to the lever and may thus be accurately positioned. The projection 18 is split so that a screw 39 serves to clamp the bushing 35 in its position.

The principle on which this scale works is that of comparing a known weight of dry sand under water with an unknown quantity of sand containing moisture which is also submerged. It is obvious that the moist sample of sand weighing 2 pounds gross will have less than 2 lbs. net of sand in it and this amount of sand will weigh less than will an actual 2 lb. sample of dry sand. The downward pull of the samples when suspended from the pivots 21 and 22 will therefore be unequal and a movement of the scale sufficient to counterbalance the counterbalanced force by an increase in the pendulum resistance will occur. Assuming an extreme case in which the sample has as much water as sand, in other words, in the sample, there will be 1 pound of sand and 1 pound of water. When this sample is immersed and compared to the standard sample of dry sand, its pull will only be one half that of the dry sand sample. The pivots are so positioned that the dry sand alone immersed in water will pull the indicator to the full capacity character on the chart. Therefore, if one half the pull of the dry sand sample is offset by the sample of sand under test, it will pull the indicator to one half the capacity on the chart and at this point 100% is marked thereon. It will be seen that the sample buckets 30 and 31 must always be stationed an equal distance on either side of the fulcrum pivots 3 and 4 in the main lever 5. To accomplish this, the hereinbefore described adjustment of the threaded shaft 20 has been provided, since the moisture in the sample in our supposed case is equal to 100% of sand in the sample. If there are 80 parts of sand and 20 parts of water in the sample when this is immersed, its pull will be equal to that of a dry sample. The pendulum resistance therefore to supply the remaining force for counterbalancing the load will be the capacity of the scale and at this point a character denoting 25% is placed on the chart 14, since the weight of parts of water is of the weight of parts of sand.

When it is desired to establish the moisture con tent in a sample of sand, the first operation consists in removing the sample buckets which are suspended from the movable pivots 21 and 22 which are stationed in the frame 1'7 which is a part of the weighing lever. This is done only for convenience since the scale is perfectly balanced for weighing when the pans are empty since the pans and attached parts are equal in weight. By removing them from the pivots, a standard sample, adapted for several tests, may remain undisturbed. A bracket is fastened to the end of the base 1. This bracket has a bifurcated end in which a plunger 41 is mounted for vertical movement. Fastened to this plunger is a yoke 42. The ends 43 and 44 of the yoke 42 are shaped substantially like a trough having straight sides and a slotted opening in the bottom. The straight sides of the ends 43 and 44 are adapted to prevent. the bearing members 26 and 2'? from twisting when lifted from the pivots 21 and 22. The book like members 28 and 29 extend through the slot in the bottom. This slot is of sufficient width so that the sides will not interfere with the hooklike members 28 and 29 when the bearings are on the pivots and the device is in use. The plunger 41, when pushed upwardly, carries the yoke 42 with it. The trough-like ends of the yoke 43 and 44 contact the bottom of the bearing loops 26 and 27 and continued movement of the plunger will lift them from the pivots 21 and 22. At this point, a spring catch 45 will slip beneath the yoke 42 and hold it in that position. When this has happened, the scale per se is in a condition to weigh commodities which are placed in the commodity receiver 9 and indicate their weight on the chart 14 with the hand 13. In this scale only one weight character 14 has been placed thereon, namely the character representing the weight of a sample; in this case, 2 lbs., as in the operation, the determination of moisture in sand is to be performed with 2 lb. samples. The indicia 14 designate the percentage of moisture in the sand. After the bearing loops have been raised from their pivots by means of the lifting arrangement, 2 lbs. of dry sand are carefully weighed out. This 2 lb. sample is now placed in the sample bucket 31 and lowered by means of the lifting yoke 42 and plunger 41 into a tank 46. This tank is filled with water to a height so that when the sample buckets 30 and 31 are lowered, they are completely submerged. If the scale is adjusted correctly for sand of the particular specific gravity being handled, the scale indicator should come to the full capacity mark. If it does not, the threaded shaft 20 provided with Lids] the right and left handed threads which pass through the slidably mounted brackets 23 and 24, is turned until the position of the pivots 21 and 22 is so corrected that the indicator does register with the full capacity mark on the chart. The provision to vary the lever arms of the brackets 23 and 24 by means of the right and left threads on the shaft 20, permits the adjustment of the scale to correspond to the actual specific gravity of various sand samples very readily and of quite a wide range. The sample buckets 30 and 31 are then again removed from the pivots 21 and 22 and a 2 lb. sample of the moist sand is weighed out and placed in the bucket 30 leaving the dry sand sample undisturbed in the bucket 31. The containers are then again lowered so that the bearing loops 26 and 27 are suspended from the pivots 21 and 22 and the sample buckets are submerged. The scale will now indicate the percentage of moisture in the moist sample referred to, the weight of the dry sand sample is the basis for this determination. It will be readily seen that when the dry sand sample in the bucket 31 is supported from the weighing lever 5 and the position of the supporting pivot adjusted so that the hand indicii cates its weight on the chart an equal weight or sand in the bucket 30 would offset the weight of the first mentioned sample and the scale would indicate zero. As long as the original sand sample remains representative of the sand being used, it will not be necessary to weigh out a new dry sand sample, so that in further moist sand testing, it will only be necessary to eig'n out the moist sample to be tested.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a device of the class described, in combination, lever mechanism, counterbalancing and indicating means operatively connected to said lever mechanism, means for supporting upon said lever mechanism a standard sample, means for supporting upon said lever mechanism a specimen to be tested, means for imparting buoyancy to said standard sample and to said specimen to be tested and means connected to said lever mechanism for indicating the ratio of deficiency in weight of the sample to the actual weight of the standard sample.

2. In a device of the class described, in combination, lever mechanism, means for supporting two loads thereon, means connected to said lever mechanism to counterbalance the difference between said loads and means for varying the leverage of such loads relative to that of said counterbalancing means, said leverage varying means operating to vary equally the leverage of each of said load supporting means.

3. In a device of the class described, in com bination, lever mechanism, means for supporting two loads thereon tending to counterbalance each other, means connected to said lever mechanism to counterbalance the difference between such loads and means for varying the leverage of such loads relative to that of the counterbalancing means, said lever varying means operating to vary equally the leverage of each of said load supporting means.

4. In a device of the class described, in combination, lever mechanism, means connected thereto for counterbalancing and indicating the weight of loads, load receivers connected to said lever mechanism to receive said loads and means for submerging said loads, said indicating means being adapted to indicate the differences of the submerged weights of said loads.

5. In a device of the class described, in combination, lever mechanism, means connected thereto for counterbalancing and indicating the weight of loads, and two load receivers mounted on said lever mechanism, said load receivers being mounted for manipulative synchronous movement in opposite directions.

6. In a device of the class described, in combination, lever mechanism, a shaft carried thereby, means connected thereto for counterbalancing and indicating the weight of loads, and two load receivers mounted on said lever mechanism, said load receivers being mounted for manipulative synchronous movement in opposite directions on said shaft, said shaft having means for longitudinal adjustment and locking means for said adjusting means.

'7. In a device of the class described, in combination, lever mechanism, means connected thereto for counterbalancing and indicating the weight of loads, a main receiver supported on said lever mechanism, auxiliary load receivers pivotally mounted on said lever mechanism to receive said loads, and means for removing said auxiliary load receivers from their pivotal mounting on the lever mechanism.

8. In a device of the class described, in combination, lever mechanism, means connected thereto for counterbalanoing and indicating the weight of loads, a main load receiver supported said lever mechanism auxiliary load receivers pivotally mounted on said lever mechanism to receive said loads, and means for simultaneously removing said auxiliary load receivers from their pivotal mounting on the lever mechanism.

9. In a device of the class described, in combination, lever mechanism, means connected thereto for counterbalancing and indicating the weight of loads, a main load receiver supported on said lever mechanism auxiliary load receivers pivctally mounted on said lever mechanism to receive said loads, and means for simultaneously removing said auxiliary load receivers from their pivotal mounting on the lever mechanism and means for retaining said auxiliary load receivers in their removed position.

10. In a device of the class described, in combination, means for simultaneously weighing against each other a sample of moist sand and a sample oi surface dry sand and means for sub merging samples during such weighing opmeans for supporting said samples therefrom at equal distances from its fulcrum and means connected to said lever for automatically counterbalancing the excess of weight in water of the sample of surface dry sand over the weight in water or" the sample of moist sand.

12. In a device of the class described, in combination, means for simultaneously weighing against each other a sample of moist sand and a sample of surface dry sand and means for subrierging said samples during such weighing operation, said weighing means including a lever, means f r supporting said samples therefrom at equal distances from its fulcrum, means connected to said lever for automatically counterbalancing the excess of weight in water of the sample of surface dry sand over the weight in water of the sample of moist sand and means connected to said automatic counterbalancing means for indicating the difference in weights in terms of percentage of moisture.

13. In a device of the class described, in combination, means for simultaneously weighing against each other a sample of moist sand and a sample or" surface dry sand and means for sub merging said samples during such weighing oporation, said weighing means including a lever, means for supporting said samples therefrom at equal distances from its fulcrum, means connected to said lever for automatically counterbalancing the excess of weight in water of the sample of surface dry sand over the weight in water of the sample of moist sand and means connected to said automatic counterbalancing means for indicating the difference in weights in terms of perand index are moved relatively to each other by sample of moist sand and means connected to said automatic counterbalancing means for indi cating the difference in weights in terms of percentage of moisture, said means including a chart marked with characters indicating percentage of moisture to the sand contained in the moist sample and an index, means whereby said chart and index are moved relatively to each other by movement of said load-counterbalancing mechanism and means for simultaneously proportionally varying the effective lengths of the arms of said lever.

EDWARD G. THOMAS. 

